A Man In Britain Figured Out A Genius Way To Shut Down Cold Calls

Warner Bros. / The Great Gatsby TrailerEveryone hates annoying sales calls, but one British man grew so tired of them he came up with a way to actually make money with every ring, according to the BBC.

Lee Beaumont paid £10 (about $15) to set up a premium phone number — known as an 0871 line in Britain — so every time someone called, they had to pay roughly 20 cents, with his cut being ~11 cents.

Writes Joe Kent in BBC:

He said: "I don't use my normal Leeds number for anyone but my friends and family."

Once he had set up the 0871 line, every time a bank, gas or electricity supplier asked him for his details online, he submitted it as his contact number.

With his new number, he made nearly $500 and ended up reducing his usual 20-30 calls to only 13 in the last month.